Photo: Buzzfeed
Reducing our intake of meat, especially beef, can reduce global warming. Want to help me find quick non-meat recipes that work for the whole family?
Back in the 1970s, my sister gave me Frances Moore Lappé‘s Diet for a Small Planet. So even back then, I was hearing that eating meat was bad for Planet Earth. But I never gave it up completely. I had a few non-meat recipes that I liked, including a delicious Eggplant Parmesan from that book, but my commitment wavered.
Lately, there’s been a lot in the news about what the individual can do to fight global warming, and one of the most frequently mentioned ideas is to give up meat, especially beef. There are lots of reasons, including the fact that livestock gives off too much methane and requires extensive grazing land that could be better used. Also, destroying trees in the rainforest and elsewhere is like destroying the lungs of the planet.
Photo: One Green Planet
Many environmentalists say that beef production is killing rainforests, which are the lungs of the planet in that they absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.
Suzanne and I are giving meatless meals another shot. We’re unlikely to get as far as a true vegan diet, but we can start by serving smaller and smaller amounts of meat and larger and larger amounts of grains, nuts, fruits, eggs, veggies, and dairy products. (Dairy cows are just as flatulent as cattle raised for meat, so in California, scientists are experimenting with seaweed added to food to cut down on the methane released.)
Both Suzanne and I value prep speed. We have meat-centered meals we make quickly on autopilot. Now we need to retrain our muscle memory to make vegetarian recipes quickly.
I’ve started searching the web and would be open to ideas from readers, many of whom probably had this whole concept nailed down years ago. John’s family has an ongoing Tofu Tuesday, so I hope to get a favorite recipe from them.
BuzzFeed offers a list of 30 intriguing meals here. They’re a bit heavy on the bean component, which won’t work for me, but how do you like the one pictured at the top of the post, which BuzzFeed found at the Bojon Gourmet? It involves tofu and shiitake mushrooms roasted in a mixture of toasted sesame oil, tamari, and sriracha and transferred to a miso soup containing noodles, ginger, and kale. Mmmm.
Photo: Yale Environment 360
According to environmentalists, when humans destroy the rainforest to graze cattle, they are shooting themselves in the foot.
A worthy pursuit and I wish you success. I could easily give up beef but pork and chicken would be a much bigger sacrifice. Maybe someday.
Even Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and author of *Climate Justice*, struggles. She says she needs to wean herself from lamb. But you know, if everyone cuts back just a bit, that will add up to something big. Doing everything at once is not in human nature.
As we raised a lot of our own meat,I would say there’s a need in better land management according to the looks of that thin herd. More isn’t always better. I agree on not cutting down rainforest ,that’s like cutting your foot off so you can walk better.
Your experience leads to some of my favorite comments. How funny to notice that the herd was too thin!
Let’s just say I take care of the health part of our animals,and I would join you in a vegan diet if I was to eat that meat!
You must get attached to them. I love hearing about your experiences.
The pigs,steer,and chicks for butchering I don’t but my laying hens and three horses I’m very much so.
If all our food came from farms like yours instead of agribusiness, we all would be so much better off.
There is a good recipe in rotation here that can be varied quite easily!
http://www.food-lifebalance.com/2012/06/20/miso-curry-delicata-squash/
Fantastic! Thank you.
Great post. I’ve started trying to have 4 days a week vegan. If it goes well then will try to increase. The worry is protein. My body struggles with the usual plant based sources.
I don’t think I’ll go make it as far as vegan: I still need eggs and milk. But you might be interested in an athlete I hope to blog about one of these days: https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2019/01/04/vegan-soccer-england-forest-green-rovers
Take a look at Ottolenghi Simple: A Cookbook for tempting vegetarian recipes that won’t keep you in the kitchen all day.
Will do! Thanks!
I go back and forth about this and I do try to limit portion sizes of meat. But my husband does almost all the cooking and he’s a meat eater, for sure, so I don’t see real vegetarian meals in my future.
Change happens incrementally, as both the Notorious RBG in a film — and George Eliot in a biography I am reading — emphasize.